Douglas Flint says loss of currency "anchor" from which Scotland derives its
economic success could leave finances in "parlous state’"

The chairman of HSBC has warned that Scottish independence could prompt “capital flight” from the country and leave its financial system in a “parlous state”.

Douglas Flint is the most senior business leader to voice concerns about independence – providing a boost to the pro-union No campaign ahead of the referendum on September 18.

Writing in The Telegraph, Mr Flint says sterling currency union is the “anchor” from which Scotland derives its economic success and financial stability. He argues that “the transition from the existing currency union would be complex and fraught with danger”.

HSBC is the UK’s largest bank and the country’s second-largest company by market capitalisation. Its official policy is that the question of independence is one for the Scottish people to decide. Mr Flint, who is Scottish, is airing his views in a personal capacity.

Nevertheless, his intervention on what has become the central issue of the independence debate – whether or not Scotland will keep the pound in the event of a Yes vote – is sure to heap further pressure on Alex Salmond the Scottish First Minister, especially given Mr Flint’s financial credentials.

Mr Flint believes that, at the extreme, uncertainty over Scotland’s currency arrangements “could prompt capital flight from the country, leaving its financial system in a parlous state”.

He said the decision by the three major Westminster parties to rule out a currency union with an independent Scotland was “wholly consistent with the actions that have been taken in the aftermath of the financial crisis” and “with the knowledge gained from recent events in the eurozone”.

Mr Salmond’s currency plans took a further battering this week after one of his top advisers admitted that Scotland might not share the pound in the event of independence. It was on this issue that Alistair Darling pushed Mr Salmond during their televised debate earlier this month. The former chancellor, who is head of the Better Together campaign, asked the First Minister for his “Plan B” should the UK refuse to countenance a currency union. Mr Salmond repeatedly ducked the question. The second TV debate between the two politicians will be screened on Monday.

Of the potential Plan Bs open to a newly independent Scotland, Mr Flint said introducing a new currency would be “an enormous challenge”, while an informal link to sterling, so-called sterlingisation, would result in monetary policy being imported from the rest of the UK. He said: “Scotland would be faced with monetary policy implementation without representation – a very odd form of independence.”

A number of UK companies – based either side of the border – have expressed concern about the uncertainty that would be created should Scots vote for independence. However, many of these companies – including Standard Life, the Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group – have confined themselves to the business issues raised by independence rather than the political or economic arguments. Such views have been aired in the risk statements of their annual reports.

But, as the referendum draws nearer, a groundswell of pro-union sentiment has been building among business leaders keen to the spell out the potential dangers they see raised by the possibility of a Yes vote.